James Dobson the empire builder

Some say he's insightful, some say he's dangerous, still others say he just needs to keep his focus on the family

July 14, 2002|By Patrick Kampert, Tribune staff reporter.

The grown Dobson children--daughter Danae and son Ryan--will not be his replacements. Although they are close to their parents and occasionally participate in Focus activities, they prefer to live their lives, outside the long shadow of their father.

Whether Focus can survive and thrive without such a visible figure as James Dobson remains to be seen, but the Dobsons don't see Focus as their own fiefdom.

"You can get in your car and you can drive around Focus on the Family and you will not see our names on a building, because both of us realize that we did not build this ministry," said Shirley Dobson, the former Pasadena College homecoming queen whom Jim Dobson married in 1960.

An author herself (her new book's foreword is by Bruce Wilkinson, who wrote the multi-million-seller "The Prayer of Jabez"), she runs a successful ministry on her own as the chairwoman of the National Day of Prayer.

"Even with all of Jim's gifts and talents and abilities, he could not have made this happen," she added. "It was an anointing of God."

Dobson's frugality adds to a humility that seems genuine. It is a product, perhaps, of his modest upbringing in Oklahoma and Texas.

"He lives a very humble lifestyle," said Robert Wolgemuth, a literary agent (not Dobson's) and close friend who often vacations with Dobson.

"He lives in a condominium; he doesn't wear $2,000 suits. He does stuff in a spartan fashion."

Generous donations

Though Focus is a handsome campus, much of it was donated by wealthy supporters. Even a new television studio that allows Dobson and other Focus staff to speak via satellite with Larry King, Fox News and CNN was from a single donor.

From the beginning, Dobson has not taken a salary from Focus, supporting himself through writing books.

The new tome, "Bringing Up Boys," has sold more than 700,000 copies and is selling faster than all of his previous works at a clip of 50,000 a month.

The daily 30-minute "Focus on the Family" radio program has flourished on the strength of Dobson's homespun wisdom and knack for knowing what people are interested in, whether it's a broadcast about reading to children, premenopausal symptoms or a two-part interview with Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer, the missionaries rescued last fall from a Taliban prison in Afghanistan.

Dobson's approach hasn't changed since the day in 1977 when he rode a bicycle to his little two-room office in Arcadia, Calif., and tried to interest Christian radio stations in airing his family-advice program.

Steve Stelter, 44, and his wife, Laura, 38, of Lombard are longtime listeners and supporters. Steve is a police officer. Laura has a master's degree in education and quit teaching to home-school their children, Jacob, 11, and Rachel, 9.

"The thing I like about James Dobson is I really enjoy his monthly newsletters," Steve said. (The newsletter has a mailing list of 2.6 million.) "I'm the kind of guy who likes to know the facts. And he's factual. He gives figures. It's not generalizations."

Laura Stelter believes Dobson has evolved in his role as a spokesman for families.

"The cultural issues we have to deal with today were non-existent back when we were growing up," she said. "As a natural progression, the ministry had to change so he could be an advocate for families."

A deluge of response

And the families of America respond, deluging Focus with 250,000 phone calls, letters and e-mails a month. Some are a simple matter of requesting a tape of a broadcast or ordering a book. Others are more personal--a marriage in upheaval, a person considering suicide. The more dire problems get a response from Focus' staff of licensed psychologists and social workers.

Focus also has an extensive referral network of Christian psychologists across the country and a quiet but effective outreach to pastors and their families who often are dealing with the same problems as their parishioners.

As Focus has grown, so has the scope of its offerings. Focus publishes magazines for every age group, creates numerous radio shows--including nine in the United States--ranging from the flagship broadcast to dramatic adaptations of classic books ("Moby Dick," "Chronicles of Narnia") to "Adventures in Odyssey," a serial for children that also is the theme for much of the kids' play area at Focus' Welcome Center.

ABC Radio Networks also syndicates a brief Dobson family commentary in the United States and overseas that is not overtly religious, and Dobson writes a syndicated family-advice column for newspapers as well.

It was "Adventures in Odyssey" that drew the Cruzan family from Beaver Falls, Pa., to the Focus play area on a recent morning. Jacob Cruzan, 6, had asked his parents for a vacation visit to the Grand Canyon and the "Odyssey" place, complete with the "Whit's End" ice cream parlor from the series. (Local families can reserve the space--no charge--for parties.)

"You know what my favorite is? The plane. You get to go up in it," said Jacob, pointing to a user-friendly replica of a B-17.